Oceanside residents continue to voice suggestions for spending

Ray Huard

OCEANSIDE — Residents who attended a community meeting Thursday morning on Oceanside’s spending priorities listed the development of the city-owned El Corazon property, a dependable supply of water, business development, outsourcing city services and code enforcement as their top concerns.

Two such meetings were held Thursday, the final round in a series of gatherings that city leaders organized to seek input on city goals and spending priorities.

Resident Jim Fischer said developing El Corazon should be a top priority for Oceanside’s well being. Last year, the City Council picked a San Diego Company — Sudberry Properties in partnership with Soccer Field of Dreams — to turn the former sand mine along Oceanside Boulevard into a massive public park and sports and commercial complex.

“We want that project to move forward. We think that’s an extremely important economic issue for Oceanside moving forward in the future,” Fischer said.

He and others at the meeting said the city also must push to get a better balance between commercial and housing development, saying that Oceanside has plenty of homes but not enough jobs.

The meeting Thursday morning at the Melba Bishop Recreation Center on North River Road was one of six the City Council requested to get a reading on how residents think the city should spend its money.

City Manager Peter Weiss said a consultant, The Mercer Group, had been hired for roughly $10,000 to run the sessions and report back to the council on its results.

Councilmen Jerry Kern, Gary Felien and Jack Feller were the driving force behind the meetings; Mayor Jim Wood and Councilwoman Esther Sanchez said they were not needed and were a waste of city money.

Some residents participating in the Thursday session said they doubted the council would act on their suggestions.

“I don’t expect much to come out of it, truthfully, because we’ve had these things before,” said Lisa Hamilton.

“Nothing ever comes of it,” said Joan Brown.

Hamilton and Brown said one of their big concerns was that the city doesn’t do enough to clean up the neighborhoods — from removing trash in alleys to taking care of graffiti.

Some of those attending Thursday’s session said they were concerned about talk of hiring private companies to take over some city services and public safety services should be taken off the table.

“I’m not a purist but in the area of police, fire, medical response, I would prefer to have city employees,” Fischer said.

Resident Larry Barry said the council should restore library hours, which have been cut in recent years to save money.

“There are a lot of citizens that cannot afford computer technology. They can get that at the library,” Barry said.

Resident Jim Thompson said he’d like to see less attention focused on downtown and more on outlying neighborhoods.

“There’s a lot more to Oceanside than downtown,” Thompson said. “There’s a lot of neighborhoods out here that need help.”

Several people praised the council for setting a goal for Oceanside to provide at least half of its own drinking water by 2020, but said in the meantime the city should do more to use water wisely and push to increase the use or recycled water.

Other suggestions Thursday included spending less on consultants and studies, dropping plans to complete the controversial Melrose Drive extension near the Jeffries Ranch neighborhood and resurrecting plans to redevelop Oceanside Boulevard and South Coast Highway

Consultant Mike Lechter, who ran the sessions, said he will present recommendations that emerge from the community meetings to the City Council in a Jan. 23 workshop.